A Christmas Carol
by Kaydotsidot
Summary: Draco is a successful business man, Hermione a single mother. What happens when some sarcastic ghosts show him what his life has been missing, and what happens when Draco decides to go after the one person he's always loved? DracoHermione
1. Chapter 1

A Christmas Carol

Author: Kaydotsidot

Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Not mine, the characters belong to the brilliant author J.K. Rowling and this was inspired by Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol

A/N: Alright, I know that I shouldn't be starting a new story while my old one is still in progress but I got the idea for this in language class since we were reading A Christmas Carol. The plot of this story will be similar to the real story in some ways and most times it will be different. This is planned out to be a Draco/Hermione post-Hogwarts story.

A/N 2: This story is meant to be more serious or at least more in character than my other story, Wilderness Survival, which is meant to have Draco and Hermione sort of OOC. Please review when you are done reading the chapter, it means a lot to hear what the readers feel about your story.

Chapter 1

Today had been a very successful day for Malfoy inc. Three new major business contracts had been signed by leading wizarding companies, sales had been steadily riding all day and the head of the company, none other than Draco Malfoy himself was on his way to becoming the youngest multi-billionaire ever to be seen in the wizarding community. Yes, things were definitely going well.

With all of the day's accomplishments, one might think that Draco Malfoy would be in a good mood, but then it would become obvious that that person did _not_ know Draco Malfoy. Christmas time was almost upon him, a time, which Malfoy considered to completely and utterly useless. So far in one day seven employees had asked for some time off for the holidays, to which, of course, Malfoy had scoffed at before refusing to give each of his employees more than a day off. He most certainly wasn't going to pay his best employees to sit home on a perfectly good workday so they could exchange gifts and sing songs spreading good cheer. And if that wasn't bad enough, at least half a dozen charities had come bearing hope of a small donation from the wizarding world's leading business company. As if that was going to happen.

Right now all Malfoy wanted to do was to get back to Malfoy Manor and do something worthwhile, like making his house elves count out his money for him. Yes, that always cheered him up. All he now had to do was make his way across the hallway before he'd be able to floo home, and be able to enjoy the one person's company he liked best; his own.

Malfoy had almost made it clear across the hall and just as he thought his luck was improving, _she_ saw him.

_She_ would be Claire Penworthy. Claire was rich, blonde, and beautiful, but also the world's biggest ditz. Always offering jolly greetings to her fellow workers and most times seeming to be in her own little world. On more than one occasion Malfoy had seriously reconsidered his decision of hiring her but as his good friend, and business partner, Blaise Zabini, constantly reminded him she was invaluable. Claire definitely had a way with convincing people to do things. Malfoy couldn't remember how many business deals were secured thanks to her. Nevertheless Malfoy went out of his way to avoid all unnecessary interaction with her.

Malfoy stared determidly ahead as his pace sped up. His hand tightened around the handle of his designer briefcase. Malfoy was pleading silently to himself that she wouldn't talk to him.

"Mr. Malfoy!" Claire exclaimed running to catch up with him. Draco sped up even more. Only a little way's more and he could floo home. 10 feet, 9, 8, 7, 6, _almost there_, Malfoy thought to himself. "Mr. Malfoy," Claire greeted him cheerfully as she caught up with him. Malfoy scowled. "I just wanted to wish you happy holidays. I know I will be. Me and my husband- Malfoy resisted the urge to roll his eyes- are going on vacation to the United Stares, during my week off."

Malfoy snapped to attention. "Vacation?" he asked. "Who authorized a vacation?"

"Why, Mr. Zabini of course. He said I could have a week of for the holidays. He told me he'd tell you."

Malfoy was furious. He couldn't have Penworthy on vacation, especially not at this time of year. He made a mental note to kill Zabini later.

"Yes, well, I must be going." Malfoy said as he made the remaining walk to the fireplace. Grabbing the jar of floo powder he shouted out Malfoy Manor and within seconds arrived back at home.

Stepping out of the fireplace into his home office, he was greeted be the sight of two of his house elves.

"Seri," he commanded, "take my coat."

Without a word Seri took Malfoy's designer coat and ran to hang it up.

"Jink, I would like something to eat. A snack if you would."

Jink nodded. "What is Master be wanting?" he asked.

"Butterbeer," he said, "A tall glass of butterbeer."

Jink nodded and bowed slightly before setting off.

Malfoy exhaled and took a seat be the fire as he waited for Jink. It felt good to be home. Malfoy felt himself getting increasingly more tired as the warm fire lulled him to sleep.

"Sir?"

Malfoy was drawn back into reality.

"Jink is bringing Master his butterbeer."

"Thanks," he said taking a long sip. "You may go," he said dismissing Jink, who bowed before leaving with a resounding, POP! Malfoy drank his butterbeer slowly, letting the warmth of it spread throughout his body, before drifting off into a deep sleep, as thoughts of wealth and riches danced throughout his head.

ZzZzZzZzZzZ

In another part of London another family was celebrating the holidays, although they welcomed any greetings of holiday cheer from friends, family, and coworkers.

"Mommy, mommy!" a young girl around the age of five exclaimed as her mother appeared before her with a, POP!

The mother laughed as her daughter ran and gave her a hug. "I missed you too Aedin," she told her daughter. Honey brown locks framed Aedin's face, which was covered by freckles. Her hazel eyes shone as she remembered what today was.

"Are we going to decowate the Chwistmas twee today mommy?"

"Of course we are honey," she said. The mother of Aedin was none other than 26-year-old Hermione Granger. Aedin's father was Seamus Finnigan. Unfortunately he was killed, along with many others in the war against Voldemort. Hermione had been pregnant with Aedin when Seamus was killed. It made Hermione want to cry to have to see her beautiful 5-year-old daughter grow up without ever meeting her father. Hermione and Seamus had started dating in 7th year and got engaged just 2 years after that. They had decided to get married after things had cooled down a bit with the war. Unfortunately Seamus was killed by one of Voldemort's followers before he could see the end of battle. Shortly after his death, Harry defeated Lord Voldemort and the wizarding world was back in peace.

"What did you do today?" Hermione asked her daughter.

"Gwandma was weeding me a storwy," Aedin told her. Aedin had definitely inherited her mother's love for reading. When Hermione was at work Aedin was watched by Hermione's mother, who had been living with them since Hermione's dad had died from a stroke 3 years prior.

"Gwandma was almost at the good part of Cinderwella," Aedin told her mom excitedly.

"Hermione dear," her mother told her, "You go rest up. You look exhausted, I'll keep Aedin busy."

"No, no. You've watched her all day, I'll be fine."

"Just look at you dear, you're dead on your feet. Come on, go rest up. And don't make me tell you again." Mrs.Granger said sternly.

Hermione sighed; it was true she did need rest. Mr. McClanney, head of Hermione's department at the Ministry had really loaded them down with work today. "Thanks, mum," she said as she gave her a kiss on the cheek.

Hermione laid down on her bed to tired to even change out of her work clothes. Within a matter of minutes she was fast asleep.

ZzZzZzZzZzZ

_Twelve-year-old Hermione Granger stood on the Quidditch field beside Ron Weasley. She had been engrossed in rereading, Hogwarts; A History, for the sixth time._

_"Come on," Ron told her drawing her out of her thoughts. "Malfoy's coming. There's going to be trouble."_

_The scene played forward just as it had so many years ago._

_"Mudblood."_

_As many times as she had heard it, it never hurt any less than the first time Malfoy had called her it. If Hermione hadn't realized why Harry and Ron despised Malfoy so much before, that moment showed her. The scene fast-forwarded to later that day. Hermione was sitting alone in her dorm, crying; or at least she just had been a few seconds before._

_"Maybe Malfoy's right," she whispered softly to herself. "Maybe, this life isn't for me." Hermione knew it wasn't true but she was hurt. She didn't know why Malfoy had had such a strong effect on her, and she hated herself for letting him make her cry. She wiped her eyes on her sleeve of her robes and went to find Harry, and Ron._

_The scene fast-forwarded again to third year when she had slapped Malfoy across the face. Hermione had never felt so good as giving Malfoy what he deserved. That slap hadn't just been for the comment he'd made; no, it had also been for all for all of the times he'd hurt her, by using that word. "Mudblood."_

_One more time the scene played forward, now to seventh year. Hermione had been Head Girl. During one of her patrols she had caught Malfoy and some other Slytherin snogging in the halls. Hermione didn't say a word she had been too shocked at the feeling that had sprung up inside her. It felt like jealousy but Hermione wouldn't admit it. Whatever the feeling had been it hurt, bad. Hermione had, at the time, blamed it on lack of sleep. This of course had been before she'd begin dating Seamus._

"Hermione, Hermione dear," Mrs. Granger said, lightly shaking Hermione awake. "Honey, wake up. You promised Aedin we'd get the Christmas tree tonight."

"Tell Aedin I'll be out in a few minutes," Hermione told her mother giving her a smile.

Mrs. Granger returned the smile and left the bedroom, closing the door behind her.

Hermione sat on her bed for a moment, as she reflected upon her dream. She hadn't even thought about Malfoy, save a few occasions, since her Hogwarts graduation ceremony. Hermione decided to talk to her good friend Ginny Weasley, now Ginny Potter about it when she got the chance. She grinned; right now she had a Christmas tree to get.

XoXoXoXoXoX

"The master Malfoy has to get up now. Mr. Zabini is wanting him, sir." Jink hesitantly told his master. He hoped he wouldn't get punished for waking master up from his rest.

Malfoy shot up upon hearing Zabini's name. "Zabini, you said?"

Jink exhaled. Master was obviously not going to punish him. "Master Zabini be waiting in the front hall sir. He be flooing over. Says he be wanting to talk to Master, sir."

"Very well, you are dismissed."

Jink bowed and disappeared with a POP!

_So Zabini wants to talk? _Malfoy thought to himself.

"Draco," Blaise Zabini greeted his friend and business partner.

"Blaise," Malfoy greeted his partner.

"I really can't stay long. I must get down to business," Blaise told his friend.

_So that's what this visit is all about, _Draco mused, _business._

"I've been getting some… complaints from the workers. Seems you said they can have only one day off for the holidays, even though many of the workers have some vacation time left?"

"So what if I said that?" Malfoy asked Blaise more coolly than he had previously greeted him. "I can't have all of my best workers out on holiday when there's work to be done!"

"Well, that's good then," Blaise said, "Seems we're actually weeks ahead of schedule and it seems that there isn't any more work to be done, so I've taken the liberty of giving some of the workers holiday vacation time. One week each. There will be plenty of workers left to tend to the odds and ends that need to be taken care of. I do wish you good holidays, Draco. I really must be going though. Goodbye!" Blaise said cheerfully before dissapearating out of Malfoy Manor.

Malfoy groaned at Zabini's Slytherin-like actions. He'd completely turned what Draco'd said around to suit his own purposes. "Damn you, Zabini," he cursed.

SsSsSsSsSsS

"Ooh, what about this one, mommy?" Aedin asked her mother as she pointed to a 20 foot Christmas tree. Hermione had gone with her mother and Aedin to look for a Christmas tree at a wizarding store. The good thing about the wizarding trees was that they never needed to be watered and once you were done with them they magically disappeared so that you wouldn't have to go through the trouble of getting rid of them.

Hermione laughed. "I don't think that will fit in the house, sweetie. Why don't you try to find a smaller one?"

"Alwight," Aedin said cheerfully as she skipped off to try and find another tree.

"Sometimes," Hermione told her mom wistfully, "I just wish that Seamus was back so that Aedin could have a father in her life."

"I know what you mean, but I'm sure you will find another man someday, to take care of you and Aedin."

"I hope so," she replied. "But what man would want to marry a single mother?"

"There'll be someone someday," Mrs. Granger told her daughter, "Don't you worry about that."

Hermione smiled at her mother. "Thanks, mum."

"Mommy, Gwandma, come quick!" Aedin called excitedly. "I found the pewfect twee for decowating!"

"It's beautiful honey," Hermione told her daughter. "Just let me go pay for it and we can go home and decorate it."

"And I'll make us all some hot chocolate," Mrs. Granger added.

Aedin's eyes lit up. "Can we put whipped cweam on top?"

"You bet."

"I love whipped cweam," Aedin told her grandmother licking her lips.

Back at the Granger residence, a joyful sight could be found as the three generations of Granger's put store bought and homemade decorations on their Christmas tree in preparation for the holiday that was steadily approaching.

"Aedin, would you like to put the star on top?" Hermione asked her daughter.

"I can't weach the top of the Chwistmas twee, I'm too little."

Hermione laughed as she reached for her wand and levitated her daughter to the top of the tree.

"All done," Aedin said as she placed the magical star on top of the tree. Hermione had enchanted it to glow nonstop until the holiday season was over.

"It looks lovely," she told her daughter. "Now why don't you go get ready for bed and Grandma will come in and read you a bedtime story."

"Alwight," Aedin agreed cheerfully. She loved when Grandma read her stories. She always had different voices for each character.

"Do you mind reading Aedin her bedtime story tonight, Mum?" Hermione asked her mother, "I would but I'm wiped, and was hoping to head up to bed."

"Of course dear," Mrs. Granger told her daughter as Hermione headed up to bed. Before collapsing on her bed Hermione said a short little prayer asking that she one day find another man, if not for her own sake but for Aedin's.

ZzZzZzZzZzZ

Well how'd you like it so far? Don't worry if it doesn't sound like A Christmas Carol yet, it will soon enough. Please remember to review even if you didn't like it just tell me what was good or not so good about it so I can improve next chapter. Thanks,

Kasey (Kaydotsidot)


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I don't own much. I'm just a girl living down in Massachusetts and this is not mine. Understand? Good.

A/N: Yeah, I no took me long enough, but here's chapter 2 of A Christmas Carol.

Chapter 2

Malfoy crept over to the heavy oak door, an umbrella in hand. His pulse was racing.

"Who's there?" he yelled out sounding much braver than he felt. Then he heard it again; the whisperings, thunder flashed outside making Malfoy jump about a mile high.

"Hello?" he asked not quite as confident sounding as last time.

Out of nowhere, something, Draco had no clue as to what, started to come out of the door, or more correctly straight through it!

Malfoy held the umbrella out in front of him farther still as he cautiously backed up until he reached the fireplace and could no longer.

"Who goes there?" he barked.

Draco could see a more defined shape coming through the door until it was fully visible to him.

"Mom?" he asked incredulously.

The ghost like apparition smiled a weak smile.

_No, it can't be,_ Draco rationalized. Mrs. Malfoy had been dead for years and he knew she hadn't stayed as a ghost on Earth, that's for certain.

"Hello, Draco," she whispered softly.

"How-How how did you-?"

"I can't remain here long. I came to tell you, to warn you."

"Warn me about what?"

"You will be visited by three other spirits. They are here to give you a second chance at life, at love."

"No, no-That's crazy. I'm perfectly fine as I am."

"Are you, really though? You eat alone, live alone, how can you be happy?"

"So? I've been living this way for years and I've survived haven't I? I don't need help!"

"I'm afraid Draco," his mother said, "You've got no choice in the matter. The first ghost will come at midnight. Listen to what they have to say Draco, lest you end up like me; a wife whose partner never really loved her. If not for you, do this for me.

"And remember, it's not too late, it's never too late!"

Without a second word, or even a proper goodbye, Draco's mother disappeared, leaving him to ponder what she said in silence.

"Seri!"

"What is Master wanting?" the elderly house elf with the drooping ears asked Malfoy.

"Get me some fire whiskey," he said, "The strong kind."

"Yes sir." Seri squeaked as she rushed off to get what his master wanted.

Draco sat back upon his armchair in front of the fire and took a nice swig of fire whiskey. Trying to rid himself of the words his mother, no not his mother, the words that that ghost had said, he drank and drank until he passed out.

Draco woke up to a bright light glaring overhead, and a massive hangover.

"Ughhh," he groaned as he rubbed his eyes to get a clearer view of whatever was in front of him.

Malfoy jumped at the sight of the young beautiful ghost floating directly in front of him.

"Who're you?" he barked nervously.

"I am the ghost of you past."

This sounded awfully familiar to Draco. He vaguely remembered reading a story like this in muggle studies at Hogwarts. What was it again? That story by Charlie Dickings wasn't it?

"Shouldn't you be the ghost of _Christmas _past? Draco asked suspiciously.

"No," the ghost replied. "You need a lot more help than can be given to you just be seeing your past Christmases, so I am here to show you more of your past."

Malfoy looked insulted. "I do no need help!"

The ghost rolled her eyes. "That's what you think," she mumbled under her breath, or would have if she had been alive and breathing.

"Hey!"

"Come, we have not much time. Grab hold of my robe and we will be off."

"Wouldn't it just be easier to use brooms, or floo or even a portkey?"

"Well, I suppose so." The ghost replied. "That is, of course, if you've discovered a way to go back in time with floo powder."

Draco just glared at the sarcastic ghost. "Fine," he grumbled as he grabbed a hold of the ghost's robes.

The journey back to Draco's past lasted only seconds, though it felt more like hours to Draco who had been dreading what the ghost would show him.

The first stop, Draco realized was right inside the Great Hall of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry just minutes before he and his fellow classmates would be sorted in their individual houses, crushing many beginning friendships due to the predefined house rivalries.

Draco walked up to his younger self before realizing that he couldn't be seen or heard. It seemed that the younger Draco's gaze was focused in a single direction. On the receiving end of it was a girl who was sprouting off random facts about Hogwarts she'd read over the summer. That girl was none other than the younger version of Hermione Granger.

Draco remembered that day greatly. He remembered how after seeing her and listening to her talk about whatever it was she happened to be talking about at the moment, how he knew that she was somebody special.

For the young Malfoy and even for the now 26-year-old Draco Malfoy, to notice somebody as being special was a rare thing.

Draco had always set high standards for what he wanted, whether it was materialistic objects or girlfriends. Hermione was everything he'd wanted and couldn't have. She was perfect, with her perfect life and her perfect grades. And without even realizing it, she was beautiful. Not the glamorous, supermodel beautiful, like some of the other girls in his year, but beautiful none-the-less. She didn't need make-up or skimpy, low cut clothing; she managed to be attractive without even trying. But there were still setbacks. She was a Mudblood and Harry Potter's best friend. Two reasons he knew he could never have her, and besides, she would never look at him as anything more than a pureblooded stuck-up prat. But then again, how could he blame her? That is exactly what he was, just some snobby, selfish, spoiled brat.

Older Draco watched as the younger Hermione's eyes lit up as she rambled on about what she had read about Hogwarts. He watched as his younger self scowled at her, vowing from that moment forward to hate her for being the one thing he wanted but could never have.

The ghost woman drifted forward.

"That's how you dealt with it, wasn't it?" she asked.

Draco looked up at her as she pulled him out of his thoughts. He gave her a confused look at the question she'd just asked him.

"That's how you dealt with it," she repeated, "Dealt with love and longing? By shutting down all feelings of compassion and kindness? Did you hope that by putting a stonewall up around your heart you could keep out the pain? Keep out the pain of your life, the pain of longing and the pain of being heartbroken?" The ghost gave him a look of pity, and said softly, "But it didn't work did it? All you did was feel worse, and get angry with yourself for how you would act around her. Not only didn't you keep the pain out, but you also blocked out all feelings of joy. Do you realize that if you'd just let her get in, bread that heart of stone, that his future," she said gesturing to the young Malfoy, "Your present would've been much brighter than it is?"

Draco looked up at her. "I think we should leave now," he said softly.

The woman nodded and gestured to her robe. Malfoy grabbed onto it. This, he decided, was definitely not his favorite way of travel. Give him a broom over this any day.

The next stop was none other than Malfoy Manor. Draco had no idea how old he was in this memory, so he walked through the front door to go and find his younger self. It didn't take long. Draco could hear voices coming from down the hall in his father's study.

"Only second highest?" Older Draco heard his father saying. He walked into the study to see Lucius sitting behind his mahogany desk, cane in hand sneering at his son who looked to be about 15. "And who, pray tell, got the highest grades in the year?"

Younger Draco avoided looking his father in the eye. "Granger," he said coolly.

"Granger?" his father asked intrigued, "As in Hermione Granger? The Mudblood who you let beat you every SINGLE YEAR?" he yelled at his son.

Draco, the younger one, looked ashamed. "But father!" he pleaded, "I'm still second, and it's not really my fault. She's all of the teacher's favorites."

Lucius sneered. "You disgust me," he said, "Get out of my sight."

Younger Malfoy didn't need to be told a second time. He hurried out of the room, not once glancing back, while he cursed under his breath.

"That just made it worse, didn't it? How'd it feel to be told you weren't good enough, and by your own father nonetheless?"

Draco glared at the ghost. She wasn't helping matters much. But then, he realized, was that she wasn't here to pity him. She was here to show him just how bad his past had been and how much he had to change if he didn't want his future to be the same.

"Come on," the ghost said, "I've just one more memory to show you before my time is up. The ghost of the present should come later on."

For the third time that night Draco felt himself being transported into the past. Once again he found himself in the halls of Hogwarts only this time, not as a young 11-year-old but as an older more mature (though not by much) 17-year-old.

Older Draco saw his younger self crouched behind a statue in the dark corridor. The Head Girl who was obviously none other than Hermione Granger was patrolling the halls. Whether the young Draco was spying on Hermione or just trying not to be caught out past curfew (which his older self suspected both) one could not be 100 sure.

17-year-old Draco may not have even been noticed from his crouching position had it not of been for Pansy Parkinson.

"Draco?" Pansy asked as she approached him.

"Is somebody there?" Hermione asked.

Young Draco cringed inwardly as he knew he's been discovered. Pansy, not noticing anything opened up her mouth to speak again. Draco knew that there was only one way to shut her up. Quickly he grabbed Pansy and began snogging her passionately. Pansy further deepened the kiss and soon the two were tangled up in each other, hidden in the shadows.

The older Draco watched as Hermione saw his younger self with Pansy and as she ran away upset. What she didn't know was that the second she'd left he'd ditched Pansy. The younger Malfoy had wanted to follow Hermione but knew that Pansy would become suspicious so instead let himself be dragged back to the Slytherin Common Room.

The older Malfoy decided to take the opportunity his younger self had been denied and follow Hermione.

Draco had to run to catch up with her but even then staying in the background; despite the fact that he knew she couldn't see him. Hermione ran all the way up to the 6th floor until she reached a picture of the four founders.

"Password?" Godric Gryffindor asked tiredly.

"Golden Lion," Hermione managed to say still a bit shaken up.

The portrait opened up and Hermione hurried in. Draco just barely managed to make it in before the portrait closed. A few seconds later the female ghost floated in through the wall after him.

Draco assumed that the Head Boy (some Ravenclaw) was still out on patrol as Hermione was the only one in the common room she shared with the other head. Hermione collapsed onto the couch as she wiped away her tears. From the distance Draco saw a larger tawny owl fly over and perch itself right on Hermione's left shoulder.

"Hey Guinevere," Hermione spoke softly as she gently stroked the bird.

The bird gave a short hoot in reply.

Hermione began talking to the bird, though aware that it couldn't reply.

"I don't know why he affects me so much," Hermione told Guinevere obviously frustrated. The owl hooted once again.

"He's such a jerk. All he ever does is talk about how great he is because he's a pureblood and how low I am because I'm a 'mudblood.' But lately though, he's changed. He doesn't bring up my muggle parents or even insult me much anymore and I don't know, I'm just so confused about my feelings for him. Every time I see him with someone else I just get so jealous and I can't stop thinking about him. But what does it matter if you're the only one who knows this? You're just a bird."

Guinevere seemed to understand just what Hermione had said as she gave a hoot of indignation and flew back to her perch.

"Fine," Hermione said to the retreating bird, "Be that way." And with that she turned over onto her side and fell asleep.

Silently Draco walked over and brushed the strand of hair that had come loose out of Hermione's eyes before covering her with a blanket. Draco retreated back to the ghost after one last glance at the sleeping figure on the couch. The ghost took that as the sign to leave and once again Draco felt himself being transported, only this time back to his bedroom at Malfoy Manor.

"I must be going now," the woman ghost told Draco. "My twin brother, the ghost of the present will be arriving in due time. Until then, I suggest you reflect upon what you have seen tonight." And on that note the woman disappeared, leaving Draco alone to reflect or in his case, get some much needed rest.

A/N: I hope that this was a good chapter. Please, please leave a review. For those of you who write fanfiction of your own you know how good it feels to find a review in your inbox, so please review. Also check out my other fic Wilderness Survival. Thanks,

Kasey


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: I only own all that you _don't_ recognize from the Harry Potter books.

A/N: Quick story notes: This _will _be a Hermione/Draco story; don't worry about that. You'll see what I mean once you've read this chapter. Also, Aedin's friend Ryan isa girl. Just wanted to clarify that so that there's no confusion there.

Chapter 3

Hermione Granger lay in bed thinking. Ever since having Aedin, finding time to herself to just think was quite hard to do. At the moment, Aedin was at her best friend Ryan's house and Hermione's mother was out with some of her friends leaving the house to Hermione. Only one thing, or more specifically one person was on her mind and that was Ben Jameson, one of Hermione's good friends and co-workers. It wasn't that Hermione didn't like him, because she did, but she wasn't sure if she was quite ready to accept his proposal of dinner. If it had been at any other time, she surely would have loved to say yes, but as it was, Hermione still wasn't quite over what had happened the last time she had a boyfriend.

His name had been Chris Scott. He'd been the perfect boyfriend, or so everyone, Hermione included had thought. That was, he had been the perfect boyfriend until Hermione had caught him cheating on her, with his neighbor- Steve. Needless to say, that relationship had ended, leaving Hermione once again single. It had also been quite tough on Aedin who had really liked Chris, and it had been hard trying to explain to her that her mommy and Chris weren't going to go out with each other any more. Hermione didn't want to make the wrong decision by saying yes to Ben, but she also didn't want to make the wrong decision by saying no.

It was time to call up Ginny formerly Weasley, now Potter. Yes, Ginny would be able to help, and besides, it would be good for Hermione to be able to talk to another female. All week at work she had been partnered with Andy, who had to be one of the most arrogant and just plain annoying people that Hermione had ever had to put up with.

Hermione dragged herself out of bed and over to the fireplace. Throwing down some floo powder she said into the fire nice and loudly, "The Potter Residence," and stuck her head into the fire.

In the background Hermione could hear Ginny.

"Coming, coming. Hold on a second." Hermione laughed as she pictured Ginny rushing about trying to get to the fire.

"Hermione! It's so good to see you," Ginny exclaimed at the sight of her good friend. "How are things going?"

Hermione laughed. "Things are good. I just wanted to know if you wanted to come over, it could just be a girl's night out. I have the house to myself and wanted to talk."

"I'll be right over!" Ginny exclaimed excitedly. "I'll see you in say, five minutes?"

"Sounds good," Hermione replied before pulling out of the fireplace leaving her friend to get ready.

Sure as her word, in five minutes time Ginny came walking out of Hermione's fireplace, as she dusted floo powder off of herself and her clothes. She ran over and gave Hermione a hug. She was smiling as she pulled away.

"So," she said, "You wanted to talk?"

"Yeah," Hermione told her, "I sort of need some advice."

"Well then," Ginny told her, "You've come to the right place. So, spill it."

"Ok, well do you know Ben Jameson, the one from my department in the Ministry?"

"Mhmm."

"Well, I really like him, and he asked me out to dinner on Saturday."

"Oh my gosh, that's great Hermione! You deserve this, ever since, you know..." Ginny trailed off not wanting to bring up Chris and Seamus for that matter. "But, wait." She began slowly. "I know that look. You _are_ going to say yes to him aren't you?"

"Well, that's the thing," Hermione began, "I want to say yes, I really do, but what if something goes wrong? I don't want Aedin, or myself to get attached to him and then have him pull away. Or to have a repeat of what happened with my last boyfriend."

"Hermione," Ginny began, "All he did was ask you out to dinner, right?"

"Well, yeah-"

"Ok, so what's the problem then? It's only dinner; if things don't work then you're not committed to go out with him again. Give it a try, he's a really nice guy, and… he's not too bad on the eyes either." Ginny laughed as she saw the smile on her friend's face. "But," she said, "Harry doesn't have to know that I said that."

"Thanks, Gin. I think that I will say yes."

"So, then. What are you waiting for? Send him an owl!"

Hermione went and got a small piece of parchment and a quill. Dipping it into the ink she began to write a short letter.

_Ben,_

_I would love to have dinner with you on Saturday. _

_I can't wait._

_Hermione_

Hermione tied the letter up with a ribbon and attached it to her owl Guinevere's leg.

"Bring this to Ben Jameson," she told the owl. Guinevere hooted a short response before beginning her flight.

"So," began Ginny once the letter had been successfully sent, "What should we do now?"

"Well," Hermione told her as she looked over at her clock; the time was around 9:00 at night. "Aedin is sleeping over her friend Ryan's house and my mother is spending the night with some of her friends a few towns away, so I have the house to myself until tomorrow. What about you? When is Harry expecting you home?"

Ginny rolled her eyes. "The 'guys' are over. That would be Ron, Fred, George, Dean, Blaise and whoever else shows up. I didn't want to be home to find out. So basically, it doesn't matter what time I get home, they didn't look like they were leaving any time soon."

"Blaise?" Hermione asked questioningly.

"Yeah. He's been a friend with Harry ever since he came to our side during the war. He's actually really nice. You knew him from school, right?"

"Yeah," Hermione said. "Now that I think about it, he was one of the only Slytherins who wasn't a total jerk to me."

"Well then," Ginny began, "I'll have to introduce you sometime. I think that you two would get along well. He loves to read you know."

"Really?" Hermione asked, her eyes lighting up at the mention of books.

"Yeah," she said. "Of course, I've never been big on books myself so I don't usually talk about them with him, but I think that you two would hit it off well.

"Hey, I have an idea." Ginny said, "Why don't we call up Luna and Parvati and Lav and some of the other girls from Hogwarts and check out that new club, The Blue Phoenix? Just a girl's night out."

"Sounds good," said Hermione, "But are you sure that Harry won't mind?"

"What he doesn't know can't hurt him, now can it?" Ginny laughed. "Besides, if he can have a guy's night then I can have a girl's night out. Come on, let's go and get ready."

Hermione just had to laugh at her friend's spunky attitude as she let herself get dragged along. It was going to be a very long night.

Meanwhile, in another place in London, one Draco Malfoy was awake. He was nervously pacing back and forth, occasionally glancing at the clock. Time seemed to be going by much too quickly for his liking. Midnight tonight was when the second ghost was supposed to come. That, of course assuming that what he had seen the night before hadn't been a figment of his imagination. He may have readily assumed this, had it not been for the fact that not even he could've imagined that sarcastic ghost.

"Great," he groaned. "Tonight her twin brother is coming. I hope that he's nothing like his sister is or I'll be in for a very long night."

Draco glanced up at the clock again. It was already 10:45! Just a minute ago it was 9:00. He really was losing his mind. There had to be something better for him to do to keep his mind off of the clock. He tried sitting down at his _very expensive_, mahogany desk and working on some of his business deals but he couldn't concentrate. He kept glancing up nervously at the clock that was now going much too _slowly _for his liking. He tried taking some deep breaths to calm himself down.

Come to think about it, he wasn't even quite sure _why _he was so nervous. If these ghosts were anything like in that book that he'd read in muggle studies, then this ghost would be showing him the present; or since it wasn't yet Christmas Eve it could be that the ghost would be showing him the near future and what would be happening on Christmas Eve.

Either way, Draco wasn't too anxious to see what this ghost had to show him. Glancing at the clock again, Draco realized that he still had an hour to kill before the ghost came so he decided that he would try to fall asleep for a little while in hopes that this would all just be a strange, strange dream.

Turning off the lights, Draco climbed under his phoenix-feather comforter, which remarkably enough was jade-green and silver colored. He turned onto his side and closed his eyes.

"Agh!" Draco jumped up at least a foot in the air as he heard a loud trumpeting sound being blown right towards his ear. "What the hell was that?" he yelled as he saw a young male ghost staring at him, a cocky grin on his face.

"That, sir, was your wakeup call."

Draco glared at the young ghost. He was most definitely the twin brother of the ghost that had come to him last night. He had curly, straw colored hair and pale, translucent, blue eyes. In his hand he was holding a golden trumpet and he still sported that smug grin on his face.

"And why," Draco asked through clenched teeth, "Did you feel it necessary to blow that thing-" he spat the word thing out, "In my ear? Did you ever stop to think that maybe, just maybe, there was a better way to wake me up?"

The ghost looked insulted. "Well, of course I did sir, what kind of person do you take me for? I thought about it, and _then_ I made the decision to blow the horn in your ear. And it worked didn't it?"

Draco groaned. He was most definitely going to have a migraine by the end of the night.

"Ok," Malfoy said, "You've gotten my attention. Now can you hurry up and show me what you are going to show me and let me get on with my life?"

"Hmph, you are just as impatient as Eliza told me you would be." The boy told Draco.

"Eliza?"

"My twin sister. And I'm Jacob."

"Well, Jacob," Draco said, "I don't suppose we can _leave_ anytime soon?"

"Fine." He said. "I'm going to be showing you the near future, stuff that is going to be happening soon. So you know the drill. Grab onto my robes and we'll be off." He said cheerfully.

Cautiously, Draco grabbed a tight hold on the young ghost's robes. He closed his eyes tight. This was even worse than traveling by portkey, and as it was, that always managed to make him feel queasy. The trip didn't seem to take as long as it had the last time, though that may have been because he didn't have to go as far through time as he had when revisiting his childhood years. When they had finally stopped, they were in a place that Draco recognized to be the very fancy, and expensive restaurant The Jade Dragon. Draco had only been there a handful of times himself and each time he had left with a considerably lighter wallet. What made the food at The Jade Dragon so good was that they didn't just rely on magic. Magically reproduced food didn't tend to taste as good as freshly cooked food.

Jacob gestured for Malfoy to follow him. They came over to a table in the corner. At it sat Hermione Granger and another man.

Draco's eyes just about popped out of his head at the sight of Hermione. She looked, stunning; there was no other word to describe it. He once bushy hair was put up into a sophisticated bun, with the rest of her hair flowing down in curls. Malfoy could only imagine how much time it must of taken her to tame that mane. She was dressed in an elegant red dress. She had obviously made a really genuine effort to impress the guy she was with. Who was that guy anyways?

Draco watched as the man reached over and gently gave Hermione a kiss on the lips before pulling away. Hermione obviously looked like she was enjoying herself.

"Who's that man anyways?" Malfoy asked Jacob.

"That's Ben Jameson," he replied. "Hermione accepted his proposal to have dinner with him this coming Saturday."

Saturday, that was only six days away. It had only just turned to Sunday at midnight.

"This is their first date," Jacob began, "Though, by the looks of it, it's definitely not their last."

Draco scowled at the man. He probably didn't even really know Hermione, not that Draco could say he knew her any better. At least though Draco'd known her since they were children. This Ben guy had probably just met her. And who was he anyways, to be deserving of Hermione? He himself had liked her ever since he'd met her, not that that had done him any good.

"This is probably one of the only good things to happen to Hermione ever since her husband- well fiancée, died in the war, and her daughter was born." Jacob told Draco, pulling him right out of his thoughts.

"Fiancée? Daughter?" Draco asked in astonishment.

"Hermione was engaged to Seamus Finnigan during the war," the curly-haired ghost began. "She was pregnant with his child; they had been planning to get married once things with the war had cooled off a bit. But she never got the chance; Seamus was killed fighting for the Order of the Phoenix. He never even got the chance to see his daughter be born."

Draco felt a strange feeling in the pit of his stomach. He thought that it might have been pity- pity for Hermione, for Seamus, and for their daughter.

Malfoy looked back over at Hermione and Ben. There wasn't much more to see here. She looked happy, like she hadn't been able to get out and just let loose for so long. Though Draco supposed that she hadn't been, trying to raise a young daughter as a single mother. He'd never had quite as much respect for Hermione as he did right now.

"Come on," the ghost said, "It's time to go; we still have much to see."

Their next stop was right in the kitchen/dining room of a nicely furnished, well-decorated house. Everywhere you looked there were signs that a loving family lived there. On the refrigerator were pictures of flowers and rainbows and all the other things that a little girl would draw. The biggest picture though, was that of a family standing in the yard of their house. There were three people drawn in the picture. On one side was a drawing of an older woman labeled Grandma. On the other side, a picture of a young woman labeled Mommy, and in the middle was drawn a young girl with the name Aedin under it. Draco guessed that they were in Hermione's house and that her daughter Aedin had drawn all of those pictures which Hermione had proudly hung on the fridge for all to see as they walked into the room.

In the middle of the kitchen was a table, set with three places for dinner. It looked like the best china had been taken out, though for what occasion, Draco knew not. Coming from the other room, Draco could hear some voices. Following the lead of Jacob, he went to go check them out.

The voices where coming from the living room of the family. A fire was lit in the fireplace providing light for the room. An older woman sat rocking on a rocking chair. Hermione was sitting down on a couch as she looked at her young, five-year-old daughter playing on the floor. Malfoy guessed when he saw the Christmas tree and all of the toys and bits of wrapping paper laying on the floor that today was none other than Christmas Day.

Even Malfoy had to smile at the sight of Aedin playing on the floor. She was dressed up in a red dress with a bow, and her hair was done up nicely in pigtails. In her hands she was brushing the hair of a doll.

"All, done," she said proudly to her mother. "I don't want to play anymore, can you weed me a story?" She asked sweetly.

"Dinner is going to be ready soon, honey. Why don't you go wash up for supper? I'll read you a story before bed."

Aedin's lip began to quiver. "Pwease? Just one storwy?"

"You heard what I said," Hermione said firmly, "Now go get ready for supper."

"Fine!" Aedin said marching off.

Draco began laughing. Aedin was unbelievably like her mother with her love of books and stubborn streak.

Hermione laughed. "Sometimes, Mum, I just don't know what to do with that girl."

The older Mrs. Granger looked up. "You think that she's bad dear?" she asked, "When you were young you were an absolute nightmare."

Draco had to laugh at hearing this. Perfect Granger, a nightmare child? He never would have guessed that. He knew that when she wanted to be she could be a monster but he had always pictured her being the perfect daughter.

"Really?" Hermione asked her mother.

"Oh, yes dear. Whenever you got angry you would stomp around the house and slam doors. You used to always make strange things happen too. Of course, now I know that that was because you are a witch but at the time, we had no idea."

"What sort of stuff used to happen when I was mad?" Hermione asked curiously.

"Well," she began, "There was this one time when you got mad at Mrs. Halfrey next door and you set her wig on fire. And another time when you were playing with your cousin Jeffrey and he stole one of your books and you somehow managed to turn him into a dog. That was the first time that the Ministry of Magic had to get involved. They erased your cousin's and your memory of the event. That's when they first told your father and I that you were a witch and that when young witches and wizards are young, things like that tend to happen. Of course they told us that it would be best to wait until you got your acceptance letter to Hogwarts to let you know that you were a witch."

"Wait," Hermione began, "You mean that you and Dad knew all along that I was a witch?"

"I'm sorry we couldn't tell you dear, but the Ministry made us promise that we wouldn't say anything and to let you find out when you got your Hogwarts letter."

"Oh," Hermione replied.

"Mommy," Draco heard Aedin say as she walked into the room. "I'm all cleaned up. Can we eat now?"

"Of course. Why don't you go sit down and I'll bring the food out."

"Ok, then." Aedin said as she cheerfully skipped into the dining room.

Draco watched as the family sat down to eat. The meal wasn't incredibly big. It consisted of a tiny turkey, some vegetables and a small bit of fruit. That was barely enough to fill himself, nonetheless a family of three with a growing daughter.

"Why is their Christmas meal so small?" Draco asked Jacob.

"Money's tight," he said. "Hermione works in the ministry to support her family. She doesn't get paid much and she hasn't gotten a raise since she began working there."

"Why not?" Draco asked. "She was top of the year at school. I would've thought that she would've had tons of job offers."

"After school, with the war going on she never got the chance to go to school some more so that she could prepare to be a healer like she had wanted to be. And then when she became pregnant, it became almost impossible. Her and Seamus had been hoping that once the war was over that they could settle down, get married properly and then once Aedin was born, Hermione could go off to school like she wanted to. But then Seamus was killed, and Hermione's dad died of a stroke so her mother moved in with her to help with Aedin. But her mother could only do so much. Seamus and Hermione had never created a will so his parents wouldn't give Hermione anything after he died. They were mad that their grandchild was born out of wedlock. They refused to talk to or see Hermione and Aedin once Seamus was killed."

Draco was furious. How could they just ignore their son's fiancée and daughter? It was horrifying that somebody could just do that; turn away their grandchild just because she was born out of wedlock. It was crazy. Things were crazy with the war going on. There just wasn't the time or the money to plan a wedding. Hermione and her daughter deserved much better.

"How could they be so inconsiderate?" Draco asked.

"I'm not sure," Jacob replied.

"Can't anything be done about it? Can't she find a better job?"

"Without proper schooling after Hogwarts there aren't many places that would offer her a job, especially as a single mother."

"But that's discrimination!" Draco exclaimed incredulously. "There has to be something that can be done!"

Jacob just looked at him. "Are you dimwitted or what?" he asked. "Think about what you're saying. You're the CEO of Malfoy inc.! Why don't _you _offer her a job?"

Draco just looked at him. "I could now couldn't I? But why would she want to work for me anyways? She hates me, she wouldn't trust me if I asked her."

"Well why do you have to ask her?" Jacob asked Draco. "I know that Hermione's good friend Ginny Potter is friends with Blaise. You could get him to meet Hermione and then he could offer her the job. She would never have to know that it was you who thought of it."

"That's genius." Draco said to the ghost. "She would never have to know that it was me. Of course I would make sure to put her into a well paying position. I already know that she's competent. She was one of the smartest students to ever be seen in Hogwarts. Any person would be crazy not to offer her a job."

Jacob smiled. Maybe this whole idea that his mother had planned with him and his sister and his other friend who would be talking to him tomorrow was a good idea.

"Come," he said. "It's time to leave here and return home. I think that you have seen enough for tonight. Tomorrow you will be visited by the final ghost."

Draco looked apprehensive. "Does this last ghost happen to be of any relation to you or your sister by any chance?"

"Nope. But he's our best friend. He's just like me and my sister." Jacob said all this with a sly grin on his face.

"Great, just great." Draco said as he grabbed onto Jacob's robe. Within minutes they had landed safely back at Draco's home.

"I have to go now." Jacob told Draco, "But it was very nice meeting you." And with a final toot of his trumpet he was gone.

Draco collapsed tiredly onto his bed. "Two down, one to go."

A/N: So how'd you like it? I know that it took me forever but it's my longest chapter yet. I've been incredibly lazy but one of my reviewers sent me a review that got me off of my lazy bottom and writing again and for that I say thanks. Anyways Please Review!"

Kasey (Kaydotsidot)


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: I only own what isn't recognizable from Harry Potter so don't sue please!

Chapter 4

When Draco woke up the next morning, he found himself thinking about all that had occurred the previous night. Go figure that it would be his dead mother and some sarcastic ghosts that would flip his world upside-down.

Things had been going fine in his life, not great but well enough. He was CEO of a company; he was rich and could get just about everything he wanted. Everything but the one thing he had always wanted most. Damn Granger, he thought. He'd always liked her; he just never could show it.

Growing up, things had been tough for him, much tougher than you would imagine life could be for somebody like Draco. People like Hermione seemed to think that he was served everything he could ever want on a silver platter. Not that that wasn't always true, but growing up the son, and only heir of the Malfoy's wasn't always a joy ride.

It'd been instilled in his head, practically since birth that muggleborns were just filth, and not worth associating with. He'd spent the greater part of his childhood believing just that. It wasn't until he went to Hogwarts that he saw just how wrong that was. Hermione showed that to him, she just didn't realize it.

She always beat him in everything, except potions of course, but that was only because he was Snape's godson and was favored by him. Not only did she have the top grades, but she was also a muggleborn. It contradicted everything his father had ever taught him.

In school, Draco had always had to act the way he did to her, not because he wanted to though, but because he had no other choice in the matter. If his father had found out that he was in love with a mudblood, things wouldn't have been good. It was safer for everyone if he kept what he felt hidden.

Draco laughed bitterly to himself. He had done a pretty good job of it too. Not only did Hermione hate him, but she also slapped him in 3rd year, quite a job that had done to his ego.

Up until this point, Draco had been somewhat content with letting things stay as they were. He'd always assumed that Hermione, being who she was, and being the brightest witch Hogwarts had seen in many years, had already settled down with someone, and was living a rich, fulfilling life. Quite a shock it came to him to see that her life was no walk in the park. He could only imagine what it must be like for her. Not only was she a single mother raising a young child, but her fiancée had also been killed in the war, and her father had died of a stroke. And of course, not getting a raise in all of the time that she had been working for the ministry couldn't have helped at all.

Draco had resolved to himself that he wasn't just going to settle for how things were between them now. He was now more determined than ever to change the long-standing animosity that existed between himself and Hermione. First though, he needed to talk to Blaise and figure out some way that he could offer Hermione a job, without her declining. With the way things stood between himself and Hermione at the moment, he couldn't be sure that she'd accept. Jacob had said that Blaise was friends with Ginny. Draco would have to talk to him later about offering Hermione a job. He wasn't sure what he was going to tell him though. He was still debating whether or not to inform him about the visits he was getting from the ghosts. Wizarding world or not, traveling through time with ghosts was a pretty strange ordeal.

Draco looked down at his magical wristwatch that he was wearing.

"Damn it!" he swore when he saw the time. He had exactly seven minutes to get to a meeting. He jumped out of bed and threw on some of his finest dress robes. He didn't even have time to eat before going. He didn't even realize how caught up in his thoughts he had become. He had been up early, solely for the purpose of having enough time to prepare himself for his meeting.

By the time that Draco found himself in the meeting room, it was almost exactly eight, which was when the meeting began.

Draco hated meetings. Rarely did they tell him something that he didn't already know. It was even worse being CEO of the company at times like these, because he was the first person that the people in the meetings would look to when they needed answers. The first hour or so of the meeting went exactly as Draco had expected it would. Nothing important was said, or at least nothing that he would consider important enough to be discussed in a meeting. Finally towards the end of the meeting, Blaise said something that almost made Draco spit out the coffee he had been drinking.

"Claire Penworthy is pregnant and is leaving her job to become a stay at home mother."

"She's what?" Draco sputtered.

"She's pregnant," Blaise repeated calmly.

"Why am I just hearing about this now?" Draco asked furiously.

"We just found out this morning." Blaise said. "We'll need to find somebody to take her place."

Draco groaned. This day was not starting off good. He may not of liked Claire all that much, but she was one of the reasons that Malfoy Inc. was doing as good as it was. She may have been one of the biggest airheads that he had ever met in his life, but even Draco had to admit, that when it came to work she was smart. Draco was surprised to learn when he had first met her, that she had been valedictorian of Beauxbatons. But once he had seen her working, he knew just why she was. She was smart, really smart and cunning too. He had seen her make deals with clients that Draco himself had thought impossible. Now they would need to replace her. It would be impossible to find someone as good, unless…

"Zabini, I need to talk to you after the meeting." Draco said. "I think I may know who we can get as a replacement for Penworthy."

Blaise looked suspicious but nodded and turned back to the other people in the meeting.

Once the meeting was over- "And a good riddance too," grumbled Draco- Blaise came over to talk to him in his office.

"So you said you know somebody we can get as a replacement for Penworthy?" Blaise asked his friend. He was a bit suspicious, especially since Draco had come to that conclusion barely a minute after he had found out that she was leaving in the first place.

Draco nodded. "Do you remember Granger, from Hogwarts?" He asked Blaise.

"Hermione Granger? Valedictorian our graduating year?" Blaise asked his friend.

Draco nodded.

"That's who you want to replace Penworthy with?" Blaise inquired. "She was top of our grade. Don't you think that she already has some job with some large company or something?"

"Actually," Draco told Blaise, "I've found out that she's working in a small department in the Ministry of Magic, and hasn't had a raise since she began working there."

"How would you know this?" Blaise asked skeptically.

"It's a long story, a very long story."

Blaise was curious to know more, but didn't inquire further. "Alright then," Blaise said, "But what makes you think she's going to say yes to you. Didn't she hate you in school?"

"She did," Draco said, his trademark smirk appearing on his face, "And that's precisely the reason that she's not going to say no to me. I'm not going to convince her to work for us, you are."

"And how exactly do you propose I do that?"

"You're friends with Harry and Ginny Potter, correct?" Draco asked.

"Yes, but I don't quite see where this is going." Blaise replied.

"And who's Granger friends with? Think Zabini, who did she hang out with in school?"

"Are you proposing that I use my friendship with the Potters to try and convince Granger to work for us?"

"Well, sort of." Draco admitted, "But I don't it'll take too much convincing. Once she sees the paycheck I think she'll agree. I just don't want her to think that we're not serious about this, and that is why I want you to become friends with her first."

"Fine," Zabini grumbled, "But why is it that I still think there's more to it than what you're telling me?"

"Because," Draco responded, "You're paranoid. Now get back to work, and remember, if you don't get Granger to accept this job offer, it'll be your head." Draco said coolly.

Blaise rolled his eyes as he walked out of his office. Malfoy was something else all right. Blaise smirked. Sometimes he thought that maybe Draco would be in a better mood if he could just get a life, and Blaise was going to help him do that, he just needed to figure out how.

After the workday had ended, Zabini decided to send a letter to the Potters. Zabini pulled out a quill and some ink and began writing. He would send it out with his owl Da Vinci. Hopefully somebody would be home to get the letter. The sooner that he got Hermione to accept, the better it was for him. Lately it seemed, Draco wasn't in the best of moods, and keeping him waiting for something didn't seem like the greatest idea.

_Harry or Ginny,_

_When you get this letter, please reply back A.S.A.P. I need to talk to you about something concerning your good friend Hermione Granger._

_-Blaise_

Blaise rolled up the piece of parchment and attached it to Da Vinci's leg. "Take this to the Potter's house." He told his owl, "And be quick about it."

Da Vinci hooted in response and set off to bring Blaise's letter to the Potters. Content, Blaise went off to do other things while he waited for a response.

Meanwhile, at the Potter's house, Ginny was home attempting to cook dinner the Muggle way in the kitchen. Ginny jumped up as the fire alarm began going off.

Ginny quickly doused the smoke with her wand, and pulled her charred chicken out of the oven. In the midst of trying to clean up the mess, Ginny saw a small brown owl waiting outside her window, a letter attached to its leg.

Putting down the chicken on the counter, Ginny went to go let in the small owl.

"I recognize you." Ginny said aloud. "You're Blaise's owl aren't you? Da Vinci?"

The owl hooted. Ginny untied the letter and quickly read through it. She scribbled a short response and attached it to Da Vinci's leg. "Take that back to Blaise," She said. "Oh and wait, before you go," Ginny ran off into another room and came back with an owl treat, "Here you go," she said with a smile. The owl devoured the treat before returning back home.

Now that the owl had flown off, Ginny turned back to the mess she faced in the kitchen.

"Oh dear," she said surveying the damage. The chicken was now black and burnt to a crisp and the room was still filled with wisps of black smoke. The kitchen was also covered in water, the product of Ginny's attempt to put out the chicken that was on fire.

"Now I know why it is so much easier cooking the wizarding way. I guess I'll just have to use magic to make something for dinner tonight." She said to herself.

Back at Blaise's house, he sat reading The Daily Prophet as he waited for Da Vinci to return. It hadn't even been ten minutes, before Da Vinci returned with a response.

Blaise thanked the owl and read Ginny's reply.

_Blaise,_

_I'm not busy tonight if you would like to join me for dinner at my house. Harry won't be back until later tonight, as he's working the late shift at work, but I can try and help you with whatever it is that you need to discuss._

_-Ginny_

_P.S. You don't need to respond unless you can't come; otherwise I'll be expecting you._

After reading the letter, Blaise went to prepare himself for dinner. Blaise threw some floo powder, and after stepping inside his fireplace, yelled out 'The Potter Residence'.

When Blaise stepped out of the fireplace into the Potter's home he was surprised to hear Ginny yelling in the kitchen.

Curious, he went to go see what was going on. What he saw as he stepped inside the kitchen was definitely a sight to see.

From what Blaise could see, it looked like Ginny was in the middle of setting out places for dinner when her cat Chestnut ran in. Of course that wasn't the only thing that ran into the house. Chestnut ran in carrying a dead mouse in his mouth, and was also soaking wet from the snow and slush outside. Following the cat was Harry's dog James who was chasing the cat, and was also covered in mud and slush. The two animals ran around the kitchen tracking a huge mess all over Ginny's once clean floor. Ginny appeared to be trying to shoo the dirty animals back outside by means of an ordinary broom, and from what Blaise could see, it didn't appear to be working all that well. Blaise decided to intervene before things got much worse.

"Wingardium Leviosa," Blaise whispered quietly, levitating both the dog, cat and dead mouse back outside. He said another spell and the kitchen returned back to new.

Ginny turned around embarrassed that Blaise saw her pitiful attempt at getting the animals out of the house. Blaise gave her a warm smile, and began laughing.

"Thank you," Ginny said to him. "I must have forgotten that I was a witch for a second."

"No problem," replied Blaise.

"Sit down," Ginny said. "Dinner should be ready in a minute, unless I have any more interruptions." She laughed as she said that.

Once the dinner had been set out, thankfully not burnt this time Ginny began talking to Blaise.

"You said in your letter that you needed to talk to me about Hermione?" Ginny began.

Blaise nodded. "You do know that I work at Malfoy Inc.?" he asked her.

"Yeah."

"Well, today we found out that Claire Penworthy, one of our best employees is leaving to have a baby and become a stay at home mother, and now we need somebody to fill the position. Draco, he's CEO as I'm sure you obviously could of guessed, wants to offer the job to Granger. Hermione," he corrected himself. "It's a really good paying job, with great benefits." He told Ginny.

"Oh my gosh, that's great news!" Ginny exclaimed. "Hermione could definitely use a better job than the one she has now."

"The only thing is," Blaise said. "Malfoy wasn't sure she would accept the job if he offered it. I know there was a bit of rivalry between them during their Hogwart's years, which is why he gave me the assignment of getting Hermione to accept. The only problem is, I don't really know her all that well, which is why I need your help."

"Of course," Ginny said. "I could introduce you to her. I think you two would get along well."

"Good," Blaise said, "Because trust me, Draco seemed pretty determined for Hermione to have the job and it wouldn't be a very good thing to upset him. He's been a bit on edge lately."

"Don't worry," Ginny assured him, "Hermione hates the job she has now, and she hasn't had a raise since she began working. I'm sure she won't refuse the job offer, especially since she's also providing for Aedin and her mother."

"Aedin?" asked Blaise, confused.

"Her daughter," Ginny explained. "She's five."

"Who was the father?" Blaise asked.

"Seamus Finnigan, but ever since he was killed in the war, Hermione's been taking care of Aedin alone. It's been hard for her, and that's why she could really use this job."

Blaise nodded. "Well then," he said, "It seems that Hermione accepting works out for everyone. Malfoy gets a new employee, Hermione gets a better job, and I get to keep mine."

The conversation shifted after that. The two discussed current affairs in the Wizarding world, the ministry, and even talked a bit about Quidditch, before Blaise said he had best be going. Ginny agreed to talk to Hermione and find out when a good time was to introduce them.

Draco Malfoy sat in the dining room of his manor, eating the feast his house elves had prepared for him. He had just finished the main meal and was currently in the middle of eating his desert. The food he was eating reminded him of the meals he used to eat at Hogwarts. The only difference was that he was eating it alone. Not that he minded of course. Eating alone seemed like a big improvement over eating with Crabbe and Goyle everyday.

Draco hadn't heard from Blaise yet, but then again, it had only been today that Draco had told him to get Granger to accept a job offer to work at Malfoy Inc. Draco figured that if Hermione accepted it would have a few benefits. Not only was she one of the brightest witches Draco had ever met, but also he hoped that he could get to know her better, and quite possibly change her opinion of him.

Tonight would be the last night that Draco would be visited by those crazy ghosts his mother had sent to help him. And not that he would ever admit it to anyone, but the ghosts had helped him so far. Draco couldn't help but wonder what the last ghost would show him in the future if Draco didn't change how his life was going now.

Right now it was only eight, which gave Draco four hours to get some rest before he had to meet the last ghost. To help him get to sleep faster, Draco took some deep sleep potion. He made sure to take only a small dose though. It wouldn't do him any good to be sleeping through the final ghost's visit.

Draco had barely pulled the covers over him before he felt the effects of the potion taking affect on him.

Draco had been in the middle of a very nice dream, one were he was ruler of the world, when the third ghost came. The third ghost's approach to waking Draco was quite simple. He poured an ice-cold bucket of water over his head.

"Yeahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!" Draco yelled as he shot up so fast that he hit the top of his bed. Now not only was he soaking wet and freezing, but he also had a sore head. Draco reached over to his nightstand and using his wand, dried himself off.

"Let me guess," Draco said irately to the third ghost. "You thought that was the best way to wake me up?"

"No. Just the fastest," the ghost replied. "By the way sir, my name is Jonah."

"Pleasure," Draco said sarcastically. "Can you just show me the future and get this over with? I'll be glad when I'm done with the lot of you ghosts. If my mother wasn't already dead, I think I'd kill her."

Jonah looked insulted. "Hmph, be that way then. It doesn't matter to me." Now Jonah looked like he was going to cry, if ghosts could that is.

Draco rolled his eyes. "Don't get all upset," he said. "I didn't mean it. Could you please show me the future?"

Jonah smiled, "Why most certainly sir. You should have said so. Grab on."

Draco grabbed onto the young ghost's robes and prepared to be taken to the future.

For some reason, the trip didn't seem to be quite so bad, but maybe that was just because Draco was getting used to the strange way of traveling.

The first place Draco and Jonah landed was at what looked to be a funeral home. Draco gulped. He wasn't quite sure he wanted to go inside.

Jonah skipped merrily ahead. "Coming?" he asked Draco cheerfully.

Draco looked at him in amazement. He was happy at somebody's funeral? This was definitely one messed up ghost.

Draco assumed he had no other option than to go inside. What he saw though wasn't quite what he expected. It was his funeral, but that wasn't the strange part. What was strange was that there was almost nobody there. Blaise was there, along with a few of Draco's workers, including Claire Penworthy and her husband, but other than that there were very little people there.

"Why are they the only people at my funeral?" Draco asked Jonah.

"Did you expect more?" Jonah asked. "All of your friends came."

Draco looked around and with a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach realized that what Jonah said was true. Those were his only friends, and it seemed that if Draco didn't do anything to change that, that was how things would remain.

"Let's go," Draco said to Jonah. "I get the picture. If I don't change things, I'm going to remain alone and virtually friendless."

Jonah nodded. Draco grabbed hold of his robes, dreading what else was to come.

As they were traveling through time Jonah said to Draco, "I must warn you, but the next thing I'm going to show you may be upsetting."

That didn't help the feeling of apprehension that Draco was feeling in the least. If anything it made him feel ten times worse than he did before.

The second place Draco landed was once again at a funeral home. He had already seen his own funeral, so whose was this?

Slowly Draco went inside, and what he saw shocked him.

Lying inside the coffin was none other than Hermione Granger. A young Hermione Granger, who looked no older than she was now.

Unlike at Draco's funeral, this place was packed with people. Draco recognized the Weasleys, and the Potters among others. He also saw Hermione's mother holding a sobbing Aedin.

"What happened?" Draco asked Jonah urgently. "How come she's lying there dead? She's too young to die!" He exclaimed.

"She was murdered." Jonah said, "By her boyfriend, Ben Jameson."

"No, that can't be," Draco said. "She's going out with him this coming Saturday. I may not of liked him, but that was only because she was on a date with him. He didn't seem like a bad person."

"He wasn't." Jonah said, "At least at first. So you must imagine the shock it came to everyone when he murdered her. But it can be changed you know, and you're the only one who can do it."

"How much time do I have?" Draco asked, "How much time until he murders her?"

"Seven months." Jonah said. "Nothing will happen to her in the next seven months, but you have to change what will happen after that if you want Hermione to live."

"Of course I want her to live!" Draco exclaimed. "Please, tell me, how can I change this?"

Jonah just looked at him sadly before transporting him back home. "I'm sorry," he said to Draco, "But I can't tell you that. You're going to have to work that one out on your own."

Draco nodded. "Goodbye Draco," the young ghost said. "And good luck."

And after those final words, Draco was left alone to deal with what was to be the future, unless he could change it, which he fully intended to do. Now he just needed to come up with a plan as to how he would go about it.

Draco lay awake for the next few hours thinking. He decided that tomorrow he would have to talk to Blaise and explain everything to him. He wouldn't be able to do this alone. But as for right now, Draco needed sleep. And so, consumed by his own thoughts, he drifted off, now more determined than ever to change the future.

A/N: Well? Surprised at the future? Now that this chapter has been written, I have a better idea of where this story is going to go. Now the only thing left for you to do is review. Please review, even if you haven't in the other chapters. I want to know your opinion of this chapter, especially on what Jonah showed Draco. Thanks!

-Kasey


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